left hand men in that day. Many, who must have the door and the right hand of thefe, who are better than they, (if the righteous be more excellent than his neighbour) fhall then be turned to the left hand, as mof defpicable wretches. O how terrible will this feparation be to the ungodly! how dreadful will this gathering them together into one company be! what they will not believe, they will then fee, namely, that but few are faved. They think it enough now, to be neighbour like, and can fecurely follow the multitude: but the multitude on the left hand will yield them no comfort. How will it fting the ungodly Chriftian, to fee himfelf fet on the fame hand with Turks and Pagans! how will it gall men to find themselves ftanding, profane Proteflants with idolatrous Papifts; praying people with their profane neighbours, who mocked at religious exercifes: formal profeffors, with perfecutors ! now there are many oppofite focieties in the world, but then all the ungodly fhall be in one fociety. And how dreadful will the faces of companions in fin be to one another there! what doleful shrieks, when the horemonger and his whore fhall meet; when the drunkards, who have had many a jovial day together, fhall fee one another in the face: when the husband and wife, the parents and children, the mafter and fervants, and neighbours, who have been fnares and tumbling blocks to one another, to the ruin of their own fouls, and thefe of their relatives fhall meet again in that miferable fociety! Then will there be curfes inftead of falutations; and tearing of themselves, and raging against one another, instead of the wonted embraces.

Seventhly, The parties fhall be tried. The trial cannot be difficult, in regard the Judge is omnifcient, and nothing can be hid from him. But that his righteous judgment may be made evident to all, he will fet the hidden things of dark nefs in clearest light at that trial, 2 Cor. iv. 5.

Men fhall be tried Fift. Upon their works for God hall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil, Ecclef. xii. 14. The Judge will try every man's converfation, and fet his deeds done in the body, with all the circumstances thereof, in a true light. Then will many actions commended

and

State IV. and applauded of men, as good and juft. be difcovered to have been evil, and abominable, in the fight of God: and many works, now condemned by the world, will be approven and commended by the great Judge, as good and just. Secret things will be brought to light: and what was hid from the view oft the world, fhall be laid open. Wickednefs, which hath kept its lurking place in fpite of all human fearch, will then be brought forth to the glory of God and the confufion of impenitent finners who hid it. The world appears now very vile, in the eyes of thofe who are exercifed to godlinefs: but it will then appear a thousand times more vile, when that, which is done of men in /ecret, comes to be difcovered. Every good action fhall then be remembred; and the hidden religion and good works, moft industriously concealed by the faints, from the eyes of men, fhall no morely hid: for though the Lord will not allow men to proclaim every man his own goodness; yet he himself will do it in due time. Secondly, Their words fhall be judged, Matth. xii. 37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified,

and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.' Not a word fpoken for God, and his caufe in the world, from love to himself, fhall be forgotten. They are all kept in remembrance, and shall be brought forth as evidence of faith, and of an interest in Chrift, Mal. iii. 16, Then they that feared the Lord, fpake often one to another, and the Lord heark⚫ned and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him. Ver. 17. And they fhall be mine, faith the • Lord of hofts, in that day when I make up my jewels.' And the tongue, which did run at random, fhall then confefs to God and the fpeaker shall find it to have been followed, and every word noted that dropped from his unfanctified lips. Every idle word that men fhall fpeak, they fhall give account thereof in the day of judgment,' Matth. xii. 36. And if they fhall give account of idle words, that is, words spoken to no good purpose, neither to God's glory, one's own, or one's neighbour's good: how much more fhall men's wicked words, their finful oaths, curfes, lies, filthy communications, and bitter words be called over again, that day? The tongues of many fhall then fall upon themselves, and ruin them. Thirdly, Mens thoughts fhall be brought into judgment: the Judge will make manifeft the counsel of the

hearts,

hearts, Cor. iv. 5. Thoughts go free from man's judgment, but not from the judgment of the heart-fearching God, who knows mens thoughts, without the help of figns to discern them by. The fecret fprings of mens actions will then be brought to light; and the fins, that never came further than the heart, will then be laid open. O what a figure will man's corrupt nature make, when his infide is turned out, and all his fpeculative impurities are expofed! the rottennefs that is within many a whited fepulchre, the fpeculative filthinefs and wantonnefs, murder and malignity, now lurking in the hearts of men, as in the chamber of imagery, will then be difcovered; and what good was in the hearts of any, fhall no more lie concealed. If it was in their hearts to build a house to the Lord, they shall hear, that they did well that it was in their heart.

This trial will be righteous and impartial, accurate and fearching, clear and evident. The Judge is the righteous Judge, and he will do right to every one. He has a juft balance for good and evil actions, and for honeft and false hearts. The fig leave cover of hypocrify will then be blown afide, and the hypocrite's nakedness will appear; as when the Lord came to judge Adam and Eve, in the cool (or, as. the word is, in the wind) of the day, Gen, iii. 8. The fire (which tries things moft exquifitely) fhall try every man's work, of what fort it is, 1 Cor. iii. 13. Man's judgment is oft times perplexed and confused; but here the whole procefs fhall be clear and evident, as written with a fun beam. It shall be clear to the Judge, to whom no cafe can be intricate; to the parties, who fhall be convinced, Jude 15. And the multitudes on both fides, fhall fee the judge is clear when he judgeth; for then the heavens fhall declare bis righteoufnefs, in the audience of all the world; and fo it shall be univerfally known, Pfal. I. 6.

On thefe accounts it is, that this trial is held out in the fcripture under the notion of opening of books; and men are faid to be judged out of those things written in the books, Rev. xx. 12. The Judge of the world, who infallibly knoweth all things, hath no need of books to be laid before him, to prevent mistake in any point of law or fact: but the expreffion points at his proceeding, as most nice, accurate, juft, and well grounded, in every step of it. Now, there are four books, that shall be opened in that day.

First, The book of God's remembrance or omniscience, Mal. iii. 19. This is an exact record of every man's state, thoughts, words, and deeds, good or evil: it is, as it were, a day-book, in which the Lord puts down all that paffeth in mens hearts, lips, and lives; and it is a filling up every day that one lives. In it are recorded mens fins and good works, fecret and open, with all their circumstances. Here are regiftred all other privileges, mercies temporal and fpiritual, fome time laid to their hand; the checks, admonitions and rebukes, given by teachers, neighbours, afflictions, and mens ówn confciences; every thing in its due order. This book will ferve only as a libel in refpect of the ungodly; but it will be for another use in refpect of the godly, namely, for a memorial of their good. The opening of it is the Judge's bringing to light what is written in it; the reading as it were, of the libel and memorial, refpectively, in their hearing.

Secondly, The book of confcience will be opened, and fhall be as a thousand witneffes to prove the fact, Rom. ii. 15. Which fhew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. Confcience is a cenfor going with every man whitherfoever he goes, taking an account of his deeds done in the body, and, as it were noting them in a book; the which being opened, will be found a double of the former, so far as it relates to one's own state and cafe. Much is written in it, which cannot be read now; the writing of confcience being in many cases, like to that which is made with the juice of lemons, not to be read, till it be held before the fire: but then men shall read it clearly and distinctly: the fire which is to try every man's work, will make the book of confcience legible in every point. Tho' the book be fealed now (the conscience blind, dumb and deaf) the feals fhall then be broken, and the book opened. There shall be no more a weak or misinformed confcience among those on the right hand, or these on the lefs. There shall not be a filent confcience, and far lefs a feared confcience amongst all the ungodly crew: but their confciences fhall be moft quick fighted, and moft lively, in that day. None fhall then call good evil, or evil good. Ignorance of what fin is, and what things are fins, will have no place among them: and the subtle reafonings of

men,

men, in favour of their lufts, will then he for ever baffled by their own confciences. None shall have the favour (if I may fo fpeak) of lying under the foft cover of delufion: but they fhall all be convicted by their confcience. Nill they, will they, they fhall look on this book, read and be confounded, and fand fpeechlefs, knowing that nothing is charged upon them by mistake; fince this is a book, which was always in their own cuftody. Thus fhall the Judge make every man fee himself, in the glafs of his own conscience, which will make quick work.

Thirdly, The book of the Law fhall be opened. This book is the ftandard and rule, by which is known what is right, and what is wrong; as alfo, what fentence is to be paffed accordingly, on thefe who are under it. As to the opening of this book, in its ftatutory part, which fhews what is fin, and what is duty; it falls in with the opening of the book of conscience. For confcience is fet, by the Sovereign Lawgiver, in every man's breaft, to be his private teacher, to fhew him the law, and his private paftor, to make application of the fame ; and, at that day, it will he perfectly fit for its office; fo that the confcience, which is most flupid now, fhall then read to the man, most accurate, but dreadful lectures, on the law. But what feems (mainly at leaft) pointed at, by the opening of this book, is the opening of that part of it, which determines the reward of mens works. Now, the law promifeth life, upon perfect obedience: but none can be found on the right hand, or on the left, who will pretend to that, when once the book of confcience is opened, it threatneth death upon disobedience, and will effectually bring it upon all under its dominion. And this part of the book of the law, determining the reward of mens works, is opened, only to fhew what must be the portion of the godly, and that there they may read their fentence before it be pronounced. But it is not opened for the fentence of the faints; for no fentence abfolving a finner could ever be drawn out of it. The law promifeth lite, not as it is a rule of actions, but as a covenant of works: And therefore innocent man could not have demanded life upon his obedience, till the law was reduced into the form of a covenant; as was fhewn before. But the faints having been, in this life, brought under a new covenant, namely,

the